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Friday, November 24, 2017

Review: Kid Tripp [ Nintendo Switch eShop ]

There’s something to be said for simplicity at times, allowing you to just plug in and play something that is challenging without taxing your brain. Repetition, getting into a rhythm, and feeling the flow of a level until you get it just right. This is the central allure of a game like Kid Tripp. While you could certainly get lucky and get through one of its levels the first time you see it, the more likely case is that you’ll spend some time getting to know a bit of frustration before finally feeling the elation of getting it all right!

If I were to characterize the game I’d say it is a mix of an endless runner (in the sense that you can’t control your forward movement) and a platformer. You’ll only be able to jump and throw rocks and what you’ll need to do is make the most of that in order to make your way through the various levels and worlds. You’ll be able to stop yourself on stepped platforms but in general there’s no pause button, you’ve moving and you need to try to keep yourself alive.

What keeps things interesting is that in each of the game’s 4 worlds there is a theme and that will lead to some variations in your enemies as well as some of the things you’ll need to do. In particular I loved World 2’s minecart sequence even as it managed to kill me quite a bit. There are certainly bound to be sections you’ll struggle with but at the same time it never feels particularly unfair since the issue is just how you execute your jumps and figure out what patterns you need to get into.

The only control issue I had with the game at times was that I didn’t have a great feel for where the edge of platforms were, and would tend to be just slightly behind when trying to make a big jump. Something you can adjust to, it just didn’t quite click for me initially. The other inevitable issue is likely that there’s not a great deal of content in the game. Once you knock out the 20 levels in the game you’re pretty well done, though you could certainly try to improve your runs or try to get all of the coins in every level for a challenge. All that said, the very low price of the game seems to make it all fair, just be aware that this won’t be something you’ll likely play forever by any means.

Kid Tripp isn’t a game that will likely stick with you for long but that isn’t to say it can’t be a fun and light distraction for a reasonable price of admission. Its light style and classic gameplay are a welcome departure from much more serious fare on the Switch and yet once you get into the groove it tends to suck you in while it has you with a “I know I can get it on the next run” hook. As long as you understand the game’s limits it is a solid bargain of a budget title on the eShop.